The Mermaid Parade and My Husband’s Shark
Parades are a unique art form. They include a number of different types of art exhibits - floats, costumes, performers, and musicians. They can be as formal as the Rose Parade or as raucous as the Mardi Gras Parade. And then there is the Mermaid Parade of the small town of Marshall, NC - population 616. Downtown is about three blocks long, there’s a distinctly hippie vibe, and major support for the arts.
So if the Rose Parade is perfection, and the Mardi Gras Parade wild, I’d describe the Mermaid Parade as joy. Everyone can participate and signing up is not required. Just show up. It’s completely informal and loads of fun. The theme isn’t confined to mermaids alone; there are other sea themed symbols represented as well, like pirates, crabs, jellyfish, and sea gods. Adults and children all share in the fun.
It’s an event where the adults can be children, and the children’s excitement is contagious.
My Husband and His Shark
My husband, Dan Rodemsky, on Jimmy the Land Shark
Last winter when motorcycle riding was out of the question due to the cold, Dan decided to create a shark from his scooter. It’s created from sheets of foam insulation, glue, bed sheets, house paint, and lots and lots of time. He added the netting to the shark’s back fin, and then put an empty Land Shark 6-pack box, an empty jug of tequila mix, and a random box.
We experienced first hand the trope that art interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. The comments seemed to fall into two camps: “Party!” and “Excellent statement about how man is polluting the Earth.”
In any case, the shark was a big hit, and everyone loved it. The children wanted rides, but it wasn’t built for that. Dan intends to fix that for next year’s event. In fact there will be a complete makeover. He learned a lot from his first attempt.
Parade Video
Here is the link to the parade video if you are interested:
https://youtu.be/HlewJ_8oKNA?si=nMLDLIhZ3AQElI7P
The video is almost 10 minutes long - an impressive sized parade for such a small town. If you are interested in just seeing the shark in action, it happens at about the 50 second mark.
